Lund Park: Historical Brice Creek

Lund Park along Brice Creek was a busy place last weekend. The campground seemed full and campers stretched out along the creek in unofficial campsites. People with young children frolicked in the creek, and others — like us — were using it to access hiking trails.

Over 100 years ago Lund Park was busy with a different type of activity, as this photo, taken over 120 years ago, shows:

It took travelers three days to get from Cottage Grove, up the Row River and Brice Creek to the Bohemia Mining District. Lund Park — then known as “The Warehouse” — was one of the stopping points as miners headed into, or out of, Bohemia.

The original plans were to take the O&SE rail line built up the Row River Valley in the early 1900s all the way to the Warehouse, as a 1903 article from the Bohemia Nugget shows:

“While an effort will be made to complete the road to the Warehouse this fall… it will be doubtful if steel will reach the Warehouse before the holidays.”

Hard times came to Bohemia before the railroad made it as far as Lund Park. While it never became a train stop, the Warehouse remained vital to the mining district. Buildings included a post office, hotel, several other buildings, and a dam and powerhouse.

Searching through the digital archives of the Lane County History Museum, I found a few photos that give a nice feel for Lund Park “back in the day.” The oldest photo (above) is from 1893. It shows a pack train at Lund Park as it prepares to haul supplies up to the mines. Another photo, from 1910, shows another pack train, this time a wagon with a young child on board. In the background, buildings are clearly visible, giving a feel for the layout of the area.

Lund Park was named for Alex Lundberg and Harry Parker. In the photo below, taken in 1912, Tom Medon and Harry Parker stand in the vegetable garden at Lund Park. (It looks to me like they have a good crop of cabbage ready to be harvested, but I could be wrong.)